Hasta La Gadget!

Ever tenacious retailer Target is once again nipping at Walmart’s heels. Following the introduction of its Target Ticket video-on-demand service — a direct competitor to Vudu — the big box chain is now looking to get into the prepaid phone business with a service known as Brightspot. The MVNO is set to launch on October 6th, which will use T-Mobile’s network and serve as Target’s answer to Straight Talk. Brightspot will offer two service tiers, one for $35 that includes unlimited talk and text, in addition to a $50 plan that piles on unlimited data with 1GB of high-speed use. While Target’s offering is a bit less tempting than Walmart’s (which offers 2.5GB of high-speed usage for $45), the bullseye retailer will reward loyal subscribers with a $25 Target gift card for each six months of paid Brightspot service. Consider it one more excuse to kick your costly monthly phone plan to the curb.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

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Via: All Things D

Source: Target

Virtual carriers are only as healthy as the companies that provide their services — and Australia’s Kogan Mobile is learning this the hard way. Its wholesale cellular partner ispONE has just entered administration following a contract dispute with Telstra, ending all its deals for prepaid 3G services and leaving Kogan Mobile no choice but to wind down. Customers have already lost the ability to add or replenish services; they’ll have up to 60 days after a Telstra notice to use any credit they have left, and 180 days to port their numbers elsewhere. While Kogan’s shutdown may only affect about 100,000 people, it still represents an unfortunate loss of competition in a country with few major providers.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Via: iTnews.com.au

Source: Kogan Mobile, Telstra Wholesale

Phoning abroad just got cheaper thanks to Ultra Mobile pushing free international calling to all of its service plans. With Ultra Zero, even if you’re only paying $19 per month, you get 1,000 gratis minutes to call Canada, China, Mexico, Singapore and the UK. If you manage to use that up, it’s one cent for each minute thereafter. In addition to that huge chunk of voice time and being contract-free, all of the carrier’s plans include at least 50MB of 4G data and unlimited global texting. The company also cut its rates for calling Cuba, Haiti, India, Nepal, Nigeria and Poland by as much as half — you know people in those countries, right? As long as you’re rocking an unlocked GSM phone and slip in an Ultra Mobile SIM card, you should be able to reach out and touch someone for a whole lot less.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Ultra Mobile

Mobile by Sainsbury’s, a mobile virtual network operator affiliated with one of the United Kingdom’s largest supermarket chains, is officially open for business. The MVNO, which operates on Vodafone’s network, will be accessible to customers at all Sainsbury’s outlets. Offerings include a pay-as-you-go Basic plan, with domestic calls priced at 8 pence per minute, data at 50 pence per day for 25MB, UK texts at 4 pence each and double Nectar points on top ups. From there, a trio of Bundle plans give you monthly access for £10, £20 or £30, with 200 minutes and 250MB, 300 minutes and 500MB and 800 minutes and 1GB, respectively. All Bundle plans include unlimited texts and double Nectar points. Head over to the source link or hit up your neighborhood Sainsbury’s to join up.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

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Via: Pocket-lint

Source: Mobile by Sainsbury’s

Now that AT&T is willing to offer LTE on budget services like GoPhone, the floodgates are open: it just extended the faster cellular data to its Aio Wireless prepaid brand. An automatic update is rolling out that enables LTE on Aio customers’ existing SIM cards when they’re in one of the provider’s coverage areas. To mark the occasion, the carrier is launching the ZTE Overture, a 4-inch phone packing LTE alongside a 4-inch display, Jelly Bean, a 5MP rear camera and an unspecified front shooter. Aio hasn’t divulged pricing for the Overture, but we wouldn’t expect a large outlay when the handset ships within the next month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: Aio Wireless